Admiral Richardson looked at the screen, seeing the faces of numerous American Admirals, though they weren't the only ones in attendance. Admiral Goto was present, both due to him being in charge of the largest Shipgirl Naval Base on the Japanese home islands, and to pass along information to the rest of the Japanese Admiralty if Isabella got cleared for convoy duty.
The only non Admiral in the call was General Kenneth, an older gentleman that the Army had put in charge of Luzon's case, as she had originally ordered for the Army. However, Admiral Richardson was not expecting any issues on that front. One of the small things he was thankful for, given the noise coming from the Philippine Government in Exile. Something to be addressed at the meeting regardless, though he hoped that they wouldn't do anything too stupid.
"So, how well did your debriefing with Isabella go?" Admiral Johnson began, looking over the rough report he and the others had been sent.
"Considerably better than I expected, honestly. We weren't able to determine what exactly the Abyssal's plans were, as trying to talk about the event nearly caused her to have a panic attack. However, we were able to find out a great deal of information about the preceding events. Even if those details only result in more questions being raised than what we managed to answer," that statement caused a few eyebrows to raise.
"Can you elaborate on that statement? You did mention a few things that piqued my interest in the report, but some seem to lack a full analysis. Given the time restraints you were under," General Kenneth spoke up, though numerous nods showed that he was not alone in his thoughts.
"Well."
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I shifted my feet, nervousness almost oozing out of every pour in my body. My heart felt as if it was thundering against my rib cage. And it wasn't just because I had found myself in the Admiral's office, Luzon sitting on my lap. It was Seattle.
My sister.
I. I had a sister.
I could tell she wasn't lying. I wouldn't have started crying then, on the docks if I thought she had been. There was something familiar about her, even though I had never met her in my life. It was just.
I never had a sister before. Much less an older sibling. I'd always been the oldest, with a single younger brother to my name. Now, it was almost as if the situation had found itself reversed. And, I wasn't sure how to feel about it. To get a sibling, out of the blue. Then there was my family from before all this in the first place. Were they still alive? Did they even exist here? Would they even recognize me as their child anymore?
My grip around Luzon's stomach tightened, while her fingers increased her grip on my hands, doing little to calm my fraying nerves.
"If you don't want to do this now, we can wait a day or two for you to get settled in more," Admiral Richardson offered, clearly pickup on my state of unease.
I understood why he made his offer, but at the same time? I needed to do this. Sure, a day or two probably wouldn't affect my memory of events too much, but I knew that if I took those few days, let things stew and boil?
No. It would be better for me to get it off my chest. As much of it as I could manage, at any rate.
"Thank you, but I think I will manage," I let out a deep breath, my Capitan appearing on my shoulder. Admiral Richardson seemed as if he was about to blink in surprise at the sudden appearance of my fairy, but he kept a straight face.
"Very well then. Start at the beginning, please. What is the first thing you remember?" there was a click of his pin, preparing to write down whatever I said.
"I remember waking up surrounded by water on all sides. I was, standing up, I think," my lips twitched into a frown. It was hard thinking that the proceeding events had only occurred a little more than a month ago. "It was after dawn. I headed north, northeast, I think, slightly towards the sun at, around, twenty knots, was it?"
My captain nodded his head, answering my question, so I continued. "I continued in a straight line into the nighttime hours, until my crew spotted what they thought was an island."
"Your crew spotted it? Not you?" Admiral Richardson frowned, tapping his pin lightly in his hands.
"Yes sir. I would have sailed straight by it otherwise," I watched as his lips twitched slightly before he made notes on the paper before him.
"Continue."
"I made landfall on the southern beach not long after, and attempted to move into the jungle, as given the circumstances, I didn't want to be caught out in the open," I shifted my feet, as Luzon's grip on my hands grew tighter.
"Circumstances? Do you think you were followed in any way or expecting any hostilities?" this time, Admiral Richardson's frown was much more obvious.
"I had no idea where I was, or what I should do. I figured it would be best just to seek some degree of cover, in case I was in hostile territory in some manner," I couldn't help but notice Amiral Richardson almost wince. "However, due to complications with my rigging, I ended up staying on the beach for the night."
"No fires or the like?"
"No sir. By that point, I felt too tired for much else. I planned on doing further recon during daylight hours, hoping to pinpoint my location and then formulate a plan from there," I checked to see if I had missed anything of note up until that point.
"Hey, hey hey hey, hey hey," I flushed crimson at my captain's words, as Luzon's hands left mine to stifle the laughter she was beginning to erupt into.
"That's not important and you know it!" I snapped at my captain, whose hey's betrayed his laughter.
"What's not important?" Admiral Richardson seemed amused, and I didn't need to look at Seattle to that she was laughing. She didn't even bother trying to fight it.
"I ran into several, spider webs, complete with, well, the spiders, while navigating the jungle," I flushed bright red in embarrassment. Imagine, a multi-thousand-ton vessel of war being scared of a spider.
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"A fear of spiders? That's a particular phobia. Not unheard of, but odd," Admiral Johnson frowned, tapping his finger against his chin.
"That's not the odd part. For an unbuilt ship to have her crew developed to such an extent, alongside clear fears and tastes, right upon summoning, is unheard of. Usually, such developments take a few days to a few weeks," Admiral Kenndy scowled, facial features tightening.
"Agreed. Reluctantly, but agreed. It's well outside the norm when it comes to shipgirls. Do we have any alternate explanations?" Admiral Goto nodded as well, fingers masking his expression.
"The idea that she's a Natural Born with a severe case of amnesia has been thrown around," Admiral Richardson nodded. "It fits quite well, to an extent. It would explain why her crew has immediately developed, her personality is full-formed, as well as why she has an understanding of modern concepts and knew that Japan and the United States were allies."
"But that would raise the question of where exactly she had been up to that point, and how she had gone undetected by Abyssal's in the first place. If she had been in the Philippines, for example, it would be unlikely that the Re wouldn't know of her existence, much less let her escape in the first place. As well as her crew letting her make a return voyage to the place," Richardson nodded at Admiral Kenndy's deduction on the matter.
Quite frankly, neither option made much in the way of sense. Circumstances and observation poked holes in both of the most logical answers they had available to them.
"Very well. If there are no further comments, then we should return to the briefing," Admiral Johnson spoke, earning nods from the others.
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"Very well. Continue with what happened after daybreak," Admiral Richardson still wore a smug expression on his face, but the amusement had died down. Thankfully his wording allowed me to skip over the crab incident.
"After I woke up, I headed into the jungle proper. I ran into similar issues with my rigging until I figured out how to dismiss it, which made travel considerably easier. It took maybe a few hours, but I came across a trail, which lead me to a ruined village," it had taken quite a few hours to finally arrive, but then again, I had no idea what I was looking for.
"A village?" Admiral Richardson paused, as I frowned.
"Village is probably overselling it. A small town feels more accurate, sir," he nodded, signaling me to move on. "It was pretty beat up as if it had been under attack at some point. I didn't know what at the time, however, but it looked abandoned, so I scavenged for some food. I mostly came up with canned goods."
"After I had gotten that sorted, I decided to look for anything that would help me determine my location," I thought back.
"Like a map?" Admiral Richardson frowned, tapping his pen against the paper before him.
"Ideally, sir, though I wouldn't be picky, so long as I could use it to figure out exactly where I was," I felt Luzon's head against my stomach, picking up another few nods from the corner of my eyes. "It took most of the rest of the day, but I managed to find a room that's roof was still intact. After searching through the desk in the room, I found a few maps in a small pile of documents."
"I see. May I ask what happened to those maps?" Admiral Richardson's words made me frown slightly. I didn't think I had it on me anymore. But it hadn't been some type of hallucination, that much I was sure of.
"What exactly happened to the maps?" I turned to face my commander, who still sat upon my shoulder.
"Hey, hey. Hey," his voice was quite grim, and if I had been paying any attention to my surroundings, I would have seen Seattle flinch. Instead, I was squeezing Luzon, trying to anchor her back to reality as her body shook in fear and pain. To remind her that I was still here.
"Burned. During the boarding," I felt several twinges of pain across my torso as I translated for my captain, while Luzon pressed herself even harder against my stomach. Admiral Richardson seemed to scowl as if the answer should have been one he should have expected.
"On that note, then, do you remember where you found yourself to be?" there was a twitch on Admiral Richardson's face as it became one of a more blank expression.
"I couldn't figure out an exact location, but as far as I could tell, I ended up somewhere in the Southwestern portions of the Caroline Island chain," I paused for a moment, thinking. "Though in hindsight, I might have been closer to the central portion."
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"She was summoned in the Caroline Islands?" Admiral Kenndy half asked, half-shouted. "That is absurd! How did she end up there, without alerting any Abyssal patrols?"
"I'm a bit more surprised that she decided to run to the Philippines, rather than head south towards Australia. I can understand her reluctance trying to head straight to Pearl Harbor, even with her not knowing about Abyssal's yet, given the distances involved," Admiral Johnson looked down at the report. "But the Philippines?"
"From what she told me, the Philippines wasn't her first option. Hell, they weren't even her second option," Richardson bit on his lip to prevent the scowl from forming. "Her original plan was to head towards Australia at best possible speed, after an encounter with an Abyssal Cruiser. If her description is accurate, it would be a member of the Tsu class of light-cruiser."
"Wait. She encountered an Abyssal Cruiser, but didn't engage?" Admiral Goto's frown was slightly visible, despite the fingers propping up his chin.
"For several reasons, most of which made sense. Outside of knowing that the vessel was hostile by instinct, she had no further information on it, meaning she wouldn't have known it was a vessel of similar classification. Furthermore, she figured that despite the element of surprise, her crew lacking much training would leave her at a disadvantage, and could still leave her in a damaged state. And an engagement could alert others to her presence, some of which could be nearby as well, putting her at even more of a disadvantage," Richardson didn't need to look at the report for that. Engagement would have been incredibly risky and could have gotten Isabella killed right then and there.
"Pragmatic. Rather than take a fight she stood a considerable amount to lose, she instead avoided confrontation so she could escape," Admiral Kenndy nodded. "Though I'm assuming it was related to the reason why Isabella decided to run towards the Philipines."
"Correct. Once she was certain the danger had passed, she made her way back to the shoreline, intent on heading directly to Australia. But when she reached the southern beach on the island, there was a considerable storm cloud blocking the path," Richardson watched as numerous faces curled in disgust.
"Abyssal Princess? Or something more mundane?" General Kenneth spoke up for the first time since the start of the meeting.
"Princess, most likely. If the report holds up, a drone launched from Australia saw two large storm centers clash in the Caroline Islands. One came from the south, while the other came from the northeast," Admiral Johnson paused for a moment, as the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.
Several implications sunk in at the same time. Firstly, was the fact Isabella's presence had only just scarcely been missed. If she had been missed at all. The footage taken from the flight would have to be reviewed and analyzed with a magnifying glass. They were so close to finding her and possibly avoiding this whole mess.
But that would also mean that Luzon and millions of civilians would still be trapped in nightmarish conditions in the Philippines. Something, that without Isabella's call for aid, they would remain disgustingly ignorant of.
"It was the second storm that lead to Isabella abandoning her plan B of heading straight to Pearl Harbor," Admiral Ricardson spoke, to help clear the thoughts in his head. "She reported the dull sounds of gunfire a few hours after she left the island."
"Really? She was willing to risk running over the open ocean to head to Pearl? Sure, it would have been the closest American Naval Base at the time, but that is a considerable distance to cover. Something I expect would be part of the reason why she didn't make that run in the first place," Admiral Kenndy frowned.
"Correct. Given the situation, Isabella felt that supplies would be too and far between for her to make the journey safely," Admiral Richardson nodded, as he watched Admiral Goto's brow furrow.
"What about radio contact? I would suspect that might be the first things she would try to get information about events," the only Japanese Admiral frowned. "We know she used it near the Philippines."
"Isabella felt that trying to make radio contact would be risky, out of concern that the signal would be tracked by Abyssal's back to her location," several of the others nodded. How many ships early on in the war ended up getting jumped by Abyssals after a single stray radio transmission?
Sadly, the exact number would likely never be known. Even the ones they did know about were simply staggering in volume.
"So, make use of it when she was either close enough that she would have been able to run to our forces, or as a last resort," Admiral Goto's frown began to even out.
"Still. I'm forced to ponder just how much of that was simply poor timing," Admiral Richardson frowned. "After all, the Re in the Philippines was a clever one, and Abyssal infighting, while not unheard of, tends to have signs of buildup. Would it be possible that she had a hand in causing such a conflict?"
With that chilling question left to linger in the air, sapping the heat from the room, Richardson continued his report.
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It felt as if the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees. Probably even more. After talking about the two storms that had impeded my path, his face had become stony. Seattle's had too, though her face seemed to switch from happy to looking like she was about to stab someone in rapid succession.
I was worried about that. While I couldn't claim to be standard for mental stability myself right now, one's mood being that, swingy, wasn't very good. Understandable, given that I was her sister who was never supposed to exist?
Quite. But also worthy of alarm?
Definitely.
"That is, concerning," Admiral Richardson finally said, almost seeming, tired. "I'm guessing you moved away from the combat area?"
"Yes sir. I headed due west at maximum speed," I nodded, watching for a moment as his brows furrowed.
"Maximum speed, not cruising speed?" he seemed a bit surprised by the statement as if he hadn't been expecting it.
"Maximum speed. I didn't want to run the risk of being caught anywhere near or in the sightline of whatever Abyssal's that were present, sir," I squeezed Luzon again as she jolted slightly. I couldn't tell if she was trying to get a nap in during the meeting or not. Given how long it was probably going to go for, I wouldn't be too surprised if she nodded off.
"Understandable, given the circumstances," Admiral Richardson nodded simply, the brief silence signaling me to continue.
"I continued due west for the rest of the day, continuing at maximum speed as to not get caught, coming across a small atoll after an incident with one of my crew," that caused his eyebrow to rise, though I wasn't sure what part of my statement had been the cause.
"Hey, hey hey hey!" My captain shouted as I smirked slightly. Turnabout was fair play, after all. Admiral Richardson raised an eyebrow, as Seattle let out a chuckle of amusement.
"One of my crew members left, me, and well, after startling me, went overboard. I picked them up out of the water after that," I hummed, ignoring the glare my captain gave me. You mention the spider, then I won't hesitate to bring up that little incident.
"After that incident, I came across an atoll, so I decided to stock up on supplies and spend the night there, on the center island" for a moment, I frowned. In hindsight, this is where things had started to go wrong. Even if I hadn't noticed it. "I attempted to head out from the atoll during the morning hours. However, I found two Abyssal destroyers in the lagoon."
"Did you engage?" Admiral Richardson stopped writing for a brief moment.
"Ultimately, yes. After they had begun firing into the treeline, likely attempting to flush something, quiet possibly me, out," he raised an eyebrow as I continued. "Up until that point, I was uncertain. I could probably take them from my position. They weren't moving too quickly, and I had a drop on them from my land position, sheltering me from torpedoes to boot."
"However, I wasn't sure if launching an attack would be wise. If it was a patrol group, then destroying them would cause whatever group they were part of to come looking for whatever caused them to lose contact. Worse yet, if I didn't kill them quickly enough, radio in my position," my words caused Admiral Richardson to nod, seeing the reasoning of my words. "Of course, there was also the possibility they already knew where I was, meaning that not engaging would cost me valuable time to flee."
"A choice they took out of my hands once they began bombarding the shoreline. I decided to split my fire. Given the ranges I was operating at, I was unlikely to miss, and my guns would be able to do considerable damage. I destroyed one with my initial salvo, while the second survived, though I sunk it with the second, taking mostly superficial damage in the process," recounting the exact time of events was beyond me by this point. Even if I did have the records aboard, which I most certainly did not, I doubted they would be of much, if any, use.
"Did the surviving destroyer manage to return fire?" Admiral Richardson's pin was held firmly in his hand as he wrote.
"Yes sir. But I ducked to throw off its aim, resulting in the shots missing," the movement of his pin stopped as if his brain locked up to process the information.
"You, ducked, to avoid shell fire," he said the words aloud as if saying it for the world to hear would cause the words to make sense.
"Yes sir," I paused, unsure what to make of the expression on his face. The confusion was clear, as if he were looking at puzzle pieces he know should be making a comprehensive picture, but was instead nothing but a complete mess. A quick flick of my eyes over to Seattle revealed a similar, confused, expression.
Had I made a mistake somehow? I was completely honest, only omitting my precious memories of my old life. Something I wanted to tell them, but.
I was under no illusions of how crazy it sounded. Quite frankly, them just chalking the whole thing up as trama would make sense from an outsider's perspective.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, turning my full attention to Admiral Richardson. He seemed to pause for a moment.
"No. Just curious," I waited for a few moments for him to elaborate further, but he didn't.
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"Curious is an understatement. Ducking under shellfire like that is uncommon among shipgirls," Admiral Johnson frowned, scathing at the beard that lay under his chin.
"Unless they're natural-born. Then it is a fairly frequent occurrence," Admiral Goto corrected, expression almost mirroring his American counterpart. "However, that still wouldn't answer how she got out there in the first place."
"If it wasn't for that very question, I'd be inclined to agree. Later in the day, as she was considering making another turn south, Isabella came under attack by Abyssal Torpedo bombers. She managed to shoot down all of them, but one got a torpedo in the water. Which she avoided by jumping over it," Admiral Richardson watched as the room turned to stunned silence.
"She jumped a torpedo?" Admiral Kenndy was the first to break the silence. "I've gotten a few reports of natural borns doing so as a last-ditch effort, but that acts as further evidence for the natural-born hypothesis."
"But we lack an explanation of to how she got out there. Either she's telling the truth and doesn't recall how she got there. Or she's trying to hide something. Possibly because she feels as if she has no other option but to do so," Admiral Nathaneal paused for a moment, shaking his head. "What that might be, I have no idea."
"What if she isn't lying?" Admiral Johnson's voice cut through the muttering like a knife. "It might be possible that she has no idea how she ended up in the Pacific, but still has prior memories. A shipgirl that has memories of a former, human existence, but was summoned, naturally, at that, rather than born. That would address why she knows so much about the modern world, while at the same time, address, why Isabella had no idea how she got to, where she was."
Admiral Richardson's mouth clicked shut. He had been about to say that the idea was completely crazy. However, it made sense. It would explain why Isabella would know about things she, reasonably, shouldn't. It would explain many of the odd ideas and plans in her combat report. It would explain why if she had memories of a former existence, why she wouldn't say anything.
Maybe putting her around natural borns might help her loosen up on that front? Trying to push the matter didn't seem wise, at the moment.
"Okay, okay. Provided all that," Admiral Kenndy gestured. "Is true, then what exactly are we looking for here? That would have to mean, under most circumstances, Isabella, quite likely, has a human family. A human family that is, for all purposes, has had their daughter mysteriously go missing. Human family, she is, at the moment, unlikely to talk to anyone about."
"Nor would such family be easy to track without such information. There are a lot of missing person cases in the United States alone. Nor do we have any time frame for such an event like this. Are we looking at weeks? Months? Years?" Admiral Nathanial scowled. "If Isabella was a human, then we have no way of knowing. Not only that, we have no way of knowing if this is an isolated incident. There could be dozens of cases like this we don't even know about."
That.
Those were fair points, ones he hadn't even considered. This could turn into a PR disaster, more so than it already was. Sure, they didn't know if Isabella was the only person to suffer such a fate, but if there had been others? The fallout could easily prove catastrophic.
"That is, concerning, to say the least," Goto's frown was clear, eyebrows furrowed as he was locked in thought. "Though I'm guessing from here it's only going to get worse."
Goto's words weren't a question, they were a statement of fact.
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Yes, authors note. I haven't done one of these for a while, and For good reason, but I have a pretty good reason to make one now. As some of you may be familiar, this is a sequel to a previous story I wrote, titled Ocean Plains, which ended last year. To those of you who aren't, then welcome. To sites that I know have link integration, this is where you can link directly to the previous installment. On sites that don't, sorry, but this is where you'll just have to go up to my profile. Go read it if you want to.
What do you do when you wake up in the middle of the ocean? Make your way to dry land, obviously. But when that comes with the realization you're in the middle nowhere, surrounded by murder boats, and no reinforcements in sight, what are you supposed to do? Do as I do. Run like hell to the...
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However, I also know that my writing has improved since I started Ocean Plains. This is part of the reason why Chapters 1 and 2 here are partial recaps of sorts, hitting most of the important notes that occurred, besides the last few Chapters. This is for original readers as well, offering a brief recap (as it has been several months now since the last update), while setting up future plot points. Chapter 3 will allow me to finish up the meeting properly before we get into the meat and bones of this fic.
Thank you for everyone's support, truly. I wouldn't have made it this far without it.
